Hiking on Dartmoor

Spending another traveling. Quite a bit of journey, more than four hours with three changes. I don't mind long journeys if I don't need to change trains too many times, then I can focus on something and get some work done. This isn't happening today, so I figured I'd rather write a pending blog post. The weekend before last one I went to hike on Dartmoor with a group of people. It's a national park, part of the moorland and popular hiking place in Devon. I had heard about it before, so was looking forward to going there.

On the way up

Everyone who is familiar with British weather knows what a difference sunshine can make here! The day it's sunny outside it's like a freaking festival (!), but probably because everything does look very pretty in the sun here. We got lucky on our hiking day as there was some sunshine in the morning and wasn't very cold. Dartmoor weather has its own mind people say, so wasn't really sure what to expect. We got some drizzles but was lucky that it didn't pour down.

The most interesting part of Dartmoor landscape is granite hilltops. Later I learned that this place includes the largest area of granite in Britain. On our way up we saw Dartmoor ponies wandering around freely. They were super adorable!

This photo was taken by Joey. I really like it, couldn't help posting!

Ponies!

I wasn't sure how difficult the hike would be and which shoes to wear. It wasn't too steep or difficult actually, only need supportive shoes for the rocks - LOTS of them there! Other than that it was quite fun to chat with people while hiking. We had a little lunch/ picnic after we hiked up. The weather started to look more dramatic by then.

From the top

When we hiked down (we did a loop) it felt much shorter than the first half. We definitely hiked more than half of the total path (8 miles) on our way up. Some people grabbed a drink at the pub where we started, most were quite tired. Overall it was a good day. I look forward to more hikes in different seasons. I wonder how the scenario will change.

Dream Trip to Cornwall

This post is long overdue. Last last weekend I went for a short trip to St Ives in Cornwall. Visiting Cornwall has been my dream for many years and I wasn't disappointed a single bit! The place was absolutely dreamy and I'm really glad I took the time for myself to explore and relax little bit. Of course, it took me few days to come back to reality (wish I didn't have to!) and catch up with my research. And like all PhD students I've reached the point of frustration while trying to solve something that seems apparently unsolvable (why do we do this to ourselves really?!). So, I decided to take a little break and write this post instead.

St Ives is a cute little town, one that has been a popular tourist destination and inspiration to artists for ages. Usually most places in Cornwall require driving like most beach towns, but they built a tiny train station from St Erth (four stops, takes 12mins) that drops you right in front of the Porthminster beach (how convenient)! The train journey from from St Erth is very scenic as well. My AirBnb host suggested me to sit on the right side, front-faced for the best view and he was absolutely right!

So, this is the first picture I took of the Porthminster beach after getting off from the train. It was cloudy and windy on Friday afternoon, so I wasn't expecting much, but that view took my breath away! This one is the calm beach, more suitable for families with little kids. The turquoise blue is stunning and as the sun peeps in and out, the ocean changes its colour in various shades of blue too. I felt I could just sit there and watch it all day!

Porthminster Beach

The Porthmeor beach is about 15mins walk from there. There's also Harbour beach in between. I was lucky that my AirBnb was conveniently located right in between the beaches and everything was in walking distance. The place itself was very nicely decorated too and the couple was very kind and friendly. Soon after I realized you start seeing the same people again and again as you wander around because it's so small! However, I didn't get bored at all. There are also plenty of art galleries and museums to explore. Later in the afternoon I made a quick trip to Porthmeor beach. This part is more of surfer's zone with gorgeous waves. The Tate Museum is right next to this beach too. There's a cliff named Man's Head that offers breathtaking views of the beach. I decided I'd spend more time on that beach next day.

Porthmeor Beach

On Saturday morning I pushed myself to get out of bed before sunrise so that I could watch sunrise on the beach. I'm not a morning person and it was little chilly in morning, but that romanticism (!) was totally worth it! It was cloudy at first but then I got a beautiful view as I was about to leave for Porthmeor. Also, pro-tip - I learned the evening before that Porthminster is perfect to watch sunrise and Porthmeor for sunset. I didn't realize it and missed the lovely sunset on Friday as I was waiting for it by Porthminster :-/ Anyway, here's a picture of the sunrise :)

After that I headed to Porthmeor beach and walked on the quiet beach by myself. It felt like a dream and I couldn't help humming "Don't Break the Spell"! The surfers started to gather too. It was lots of fun to walk on the beautiful, clear water even though it was quite freezing. I collected lots of pretty shells and started to head back for breakfast and little shopping as they neared the opening hour. Most shops open there around 10am, which makes sense for tourist towns but also I started to get hungry. 

I had tasty Cornish pasty, hot chocolate and brownie and went home for little rest. Later that day I went up to Man's Head. We were blessed with gorgeous sunshine that day and I took plenty of pretty pictures. I mean it looked so beautiful already that I didn't have to make much effort!

I loved that they placed benches beautifully on that cliff. What a simple nice idea to let people watch those blue waves! I walked to the top, took more photos, had fish & chips for dinner and came home with a happy heart.

On Sunday it was time to head back. It felt too soon! I really wished I could be there longer. I left AirBnb with all my luggage and it was drizzling, so thought I'd just walk around little bit. I went to the gift shops and had more Cornish pasty, but after a while I couldn't resist climbing Man's Head again. I spent some more time there watching beautiful waves, the wind made them extra gorgeous! After that I headed back to Porthminster beach and hopped on my train back.

I'm really glad I made this trip and can't wait to go back in June. Already started to think where else to visit in Cornwall! :p Till then I've got plenty of photos and videos to cherish those beautiful memories. 

Now back to my research (-_-).

On Dixit and Tech Talks

After long Easter break people are slowly getting back to work here, though most schools are still on vacation. Just learned yesterday Easter break is 3 weeks long here! What the hell! Summer, Christmas, Easter - students in this country get so much time off! It may also be I feel weird getting used to full-time student again. Everyday I think I need to push myself more to do my research. Technically no public holidays apply on me. I can't tell I'm doing well with time management yet but hopefully will get there slowly. 

Anyway, this post is a short and quick update. I met a fun group of people yesterday. We played Dixit and had dinner together. It was the first time to meet them and also first time to play the game, but I almost won! I started slow, was the very last one but it started to become more fun as we played couple of rounds. The purple bunny below is mine :D (half-way through the game). The black one eventually won.

If you never played Dixit before, it's a storytelling card game where everyone has a set of cards. The storyteller picks one card and says a word or phrase or sentence that may describe the picture on that card. Then the rest of the players pick one card from their sets that may tell that story. When everyone is done selecting their cards, all players (except the storyteller) try to guess which one was the storyteller's card. If someone gets the right answer then both the storyteller and the person who could guess get points. It's actually quite fun game as it makes you analyze participants' psychology - whether they think in literal way or in creative way. 

Dinner was good. Joey made vegetarian pizza and Marcus made Scottish Haggis, which is usually non-veg but the veggie version was yummy as well. We had good conversation too.  

Today I went to tech talk series and it was actually quite interesting. It was nice to hear about practitioners working on real projects. I found the talk by a Data Scientist from Sparx particularly interesting. They are a educational research group creating personalized math lessons in collaboration with schools. Also, got to connect with the Digital Exeter Meetup organizer. I think there'll be potential opportunities to collaborate in future. 

Even though I'm not a social person in general or go to such events solely for networking, it's been a good experience. Looking forward to attending more events like this and hopefully will come across more nice people too!

Brighton Days

Brighton is a beach town and quite popular tourist destination (figured from AirBnb price!) in the south of the UK. Apparently it's the third most expensive city to live in this country, but I had the chance to stay here for a while because of my sister. I visited her 3 months ago and been staying with her until I move to my own place. 

This city reminds me of my childhood a lot as I grew up in a coastal city and going to the beach was a regular fun activity for our family. People living here are lucky to have a beautiful beach right in the heart of the city. Surrounding city centre is buzzing with all sorts of shops and makes all amenities easily accessible. You walk through the lanes and can hear the waves calling you (well, not quite as romantic until you cross the street as traffic and human noise masks it quite a bit). 

Water always pulls me because I've always had close connection with rivers and ocean. Sitting there alone listening to the waves soothes my mind and makes me feel I could wash away all my pains. Most importantly, the vastness and depth of the ocean remind me that we're all so small. I should learn to be more humble and tolerant from the ocean. 

I love sunsets, and a beautiful sunset by the beach is all I need to be happy or at least heal my soul. I was lucky to spend some time alone there watching pretty sunsets when I needed it the most. Given that it's still pretty cold for spring, both days I came back frozen! Hopefully I'll get to spend longer time when it gets warmer.

Brighton Central Beach

I also like the view from the house. You can see this hilly area that goes down to Stanmer Park. On a beautiful day, clouds rise above the hill in a blue sky making this background even more beautiful. The weather has been funny since I got here - a lot of rain and snow. But got to see some beautiful sunsets in last couple of days. 

I am also trying to get back to running routine slowly. When I moved here I put my running gear in my main luggage so that I don't have to live without running for too long, but it became overweight, so had to get rid of them :( Happy to be finally going back on track even though I gained a lot of weight in about a month >.<

View from living room

 

Last time when I came here we went to visit the Brighton Pavilion, which is very gorgeous. I still haven't gotten the chance to explore the museum, hopefully soon. We planned to visit the aquarium with Arnan (my little nephew) but couldn't find a good day for it yet. The weather has been bizarre most weekends. 

Brighton Pavilion

Brighton Museum & Gallery

My Brighton days are almost over. I'm moving to my place this weekend and then will be visiting occasionally. I'm looking forward to being settled and getting back to my regular lifestyle, but it'll always be a pleasure to come back to this city.

Snowy Welcome to the UK

It was about 2 months ago that I wrote my last post. At that time I had one month left until my big move and it'll soon be a month that I've moved to the UK. Crazy how time flies! This move was very stressful (as a continental move like this is supposed to be) and I promised myself I'm never doing this ever again in my life! In one week I travelled from Raleigh to New York, landed in London from NY, came to Brighton from London, travelled to Birmingham and from there to Exeter! 

Even though I thought I won't see more snow this year after that big snowfall in Raleigh, soon after I arrived the Beast of the East hit the UK and literally dumped the country under snow. I was stuck in Exeter for 3 more days for snow as the train system went down. After making three attempts at getting back and major delays, I was finally able to get back to Brighton. 

Yesterday was the sequel of the Beast of the East and we got more snow. It snowed more in some other parts of the country. It doesn't snow this much in the UK usually. I also read later that it's rarely once in 8 years it snows like this in Raleigh. Seems like wherever I go snow follows! Usually I love snow but it feels I had enough of it this year (especially after catching severe cold).

First day of snow was very pretty though. I didn't have my proper snow boots with me as I wasn't expecting that much snow. I still went out to play with snow and take some photos. End result was coughing for one week straight, but it was totally worth it! Here are some photos from first and second snowfall -

Looking forward to warmer spring days now. Also, looking forward to finally get settled in my own place. It's been the longest ever in my life that I've been in a transitional state. It's been 3 weeks but feels like prolonged vacation to me! Time to get back to my usual lifestyle and focus on what I came here for. Making slow progress, but surely getting there. 

Hopefully will start writing more regular posts from now on :) A lot of trips coming up in next few months, so more travel posts coming soon!

Rare Snowfall in North Carolina

It's almost the end of January, this whole month went by fast but it's been full of stress and anxiety for me so far. So much going on right now that I can barely get a grip of life. The year started with my dental surgery. After almost 1.5 years of dealing with this dental treatment mishap I finally took the courage to get it done. Given the cost of dental implant, it would be impossible for me to do if I were a grad student now. So, lucky to be done with this and I hope I won't have to deal with something like this in near future. Anyway, one good thing of this year was we had first snowfall of the season. On January 4th I was supposed to be on leave after my treatment. I woke up slowly to find out it was all white and pretty outside. In the South snowfall is a rare phenomena! Even if it snows an inch or two, everything shuts down here because they are not used to handling such situation. I didn't go out that day as I was supposed to rest anyway and enjoyed being at home. 

I thought that would be the first and last snowfall of this season (that's how it usually is here), but to our surprise we had a proper snowfall two weeks later. Raleigh had about 5-6 inches of snow, which is very unusual. Apparently it snows like this only once in 8 years! The whole area covered in white snow looked like a dreamy wonderland! I walked up to the Art Museum in that afternoon as it's one of my favorite places and it looked so beautiful! I'm sure that was the first and last time to see such view of the Art Museum park. Usually snow melts away the very next day here, but the next morning it was all white outside. So, we had two snow days and most public services were closed. Luckily it was bright and sunny, so it started to clear up the trees by the afternoon. I went for a walk again to the museum to take more photos. Posting some of my favorite photos here. Enjoy!

Pool in my apartment complex